NPD data

June's NPD numbers were rather ordinary and predictable. That is, nothing terribly shocking happened. The PlayStation 4 was still the top console and Batman: Arkham Knight led the way for software (with the PS4 version the bi...

After just a month in the top spot, the Xbox One gave way to the PlayStation 4 for the month of May, according to the latest NPD numbers released. But the PS4 didn't just sell hardware, the system also outsold the Xbox One fo...

According to April's NPD numbers, the Xbox One proved it has some legs as it claimed the top spot for the month's console sales by knocking the PlayStation 4 down a notch. While Sony may be leading the console race overall an...

It's that time of the month again. The time console warriors are able to pull out actual facts to back up their extreme fanboyism in the most heated of forum discussions.
Taking the top spot again for hardware was the PlaySta...

It looks like we can all temper those Nintendo is doomed stories that always pop up in their forever click-bait form. According to the latest NPD numbers for February, Nintendo proved that they still have the ability to print...

After being knocked off the top spot as the best-selling console for the past two months, Sony's PS4 regained the much-coveted sales marker for the month of January. Not only is it back at number one, but it also continues it...

According to a media release from Nintendo, the Wii U sold almost 30 percent more hardware and over 75 percent more games in 2014 than the previous year, likely fueled by the one-two punch of Mario Kart 8 (1.7 million physica...

PlayStation 4 sold the most among videogame consoles in August, according to the August NPD report, adding to the 10 million mark hit a month ago. For even more evidence of the console's large market share, Madden 15 on ...

If there's one phrase you get used to hearing when talking about PC games, it's "I'll wait for a bundle or sale." It's common knowledge if you wait a while, you can get a better price through places like Steam, Green Man Gami...

The PlayStation 4 was once again the top selling console in May of 2014, though we haven't had a specific sales numbers update from anyone in a while.
As for software, Ubisoft's day-one sales record holder Watch Dogs, re...

NPD's Core Gaming 2014 report shows that gamers still dig physical copies, with 74 percent of gamers in the United States saying that they would choose a physical copy of a game over a digital one. Digital acceptance is growi...

People are buying Xbox One consoles! Microsoft's quarterly results show that they shipped 1.2 million Xbox One systems in Q3, bringing their total shipped number up to 5 million since launch. They've reported $20.4 billion in...

PS4 sales topped 7 million as of Sony's last count, while Microsoft says upwards of 5 million Xbox One consoles have been shipped to retailers since launch. The former system was the best-seller for March (that's three months...

According to a recent report from the NPD group, U.S. consumers spent 3.45 billion dollars last quarter on videogame content -- up 17 percent from the same quarter in 2012.
Leading the charge was Grand Theft Auto 5, whi...

After managing to crack the top ten NPD list for its late August launch, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has now passed the 1.5 million registered users milestone. Many will remember the original Final Fantasy XIV launch, w...

Sales of Wii U hardware increased dramatically at the tail end of September, jumping more than 200 percent over August's numbers in just 15 days, Nintendo of America has announced. The spike coincided with the system's S...

Thursday was NPD day, a day of celebration and / or commiseration throughout the US gaming industry. The big winners in terms of hardware and software were 3DS and NCAA Football 14. This marks the third straight month that 3D...

[DC zombie sculpts by Casey Love Designs]
The NPD Group released US sales data for April 2013 two days ago, but a complete lack of enthusiasm on the part of the Destructoid staff has delayed our posting it. Not our fault! Loo...

I hope you like Tomb Raider's forced multiplayer, because NPD's latest study provides more coal to big publishers's firery intiative to have multiplayer in more games. NPD polled 8,800 US gamers, discovering that 72 percent p...

BioShock Infinite moves 878,000 copies
Yesterday, Hamza popped up and screamed "Told you!" to our staff. And he was right. Not too long ago he said that miserable game The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct would do better than we'd expect it to. In NPD's March 2013...

Retail is down 25% from February 2012The NPD Group has released game sales data for February 2013, which means it's time to play another exciting round of "good news, bad news"!
Hardware sales have actually risen compared to January, which is even better news co...

Feb 15 //
Tony PonceTop 10 software chart (SKUs combined)
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
Far Cry 3 (360, PS3, PC)
Just Dance 4 (Wii, 360, PS3, Wii U)
NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP, PC)
Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, Wii U)
DmC: Devil May Cry (PS3, 360)
Halo 4 (360)
Assassin's Creed III (360, PS3, Wii U, PC)
Skylanders Giants (Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS, Wii U)
FIFA Soccer 13 (PS3, 360, PSV, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, PSP)
What you don't see on this list is Ni no Kuni, which barely missed the cutoff and came in at #11. However, if you break down the SKUs individually, the Level-5 RPG actually came in at #7. Good news there! Ghibli magic is making waves the world over!
So, what of the Wii U?
As you can see in the chart above, software on the Wii U has consistently sold less than on its console brethren, in some cases even worse than the versions on Vita (about 35K for the month, if you were curious). The Wii U is simply not selling games at all, which makes it perfectly clear why third parties have been extremely nervous.
[embed]245028:46961:0[/embed]
But wait a minute, the Wii U has barely been out three months! Every piece of software out there right now exists in the launch window, the larval stage of the machine's life before it truly comes in its own. That companies are already writing it off has to be chalked up to something more.
I don't believe for a second that any of these big companies seriously thought ports from the PS3 and 360 were going to make it big right out the gate. This is the first time some of these franchises are appearing on a Nintendo console -- at least in forms that can be considered equivalent to the other HD machines' offerings -- so the audience simply isn't there yet. Obviously, most consumers were going to purchase the sequels to HD heavy hitters on the same console they played the previous installments.
But this is surely the case of most platform launches. Typically, you'll have one or two breakout titles right from the start while rest of the library is rounded out with quickly developed software for the sake of getting into the front door. What even the low-performing launch games ought to demonstrate is a company's willingness to invest in a platform's future, at least for a short while to assess the market and general atmosphere.
Unfortunately, Wii U software is performing even worse than what we've seen in years past. Now companies are pulling back after one game, while others are so scared that they have canceled plans to support the Wii U. Mere months into its life.
As I said before, it's on Nintendo to properly showcase the necessity of having a Wii U in your life, but the anxiety exhibited by third parties is more indicative of their increasing focus on short-term gains, even taking into account the poor sales at the moment. This is not exclusive to Nintendo platforms but rather a portrait of the entire industry. The 360 and PS3 environments are so comfortable, so why risk developing on new hardware?
If the Wii U had more beef under the hood, would that have made a difference? The launch library would have undoubtedly included ports, albeit slightly touched-up ports, and we'd still have a situation where the audience of a game will stick to the same platform for the sequel. And if what Konami's Dave Cox said concerning the lack of Lords of Shadow 2 on Wii U is true, that a Wii U port would add significant cost, how much more expensive do you think it would be trying to port to an even more beastly machine?
The Wii U is in serious trouble, and Nintendo needs to do whatever it can to turn perception around. However, it'll be fighting against a wave that's washing over the entire industry, and I bet you a fat stack that Sony and Microsoft will be feeling the heat as well.
Everyone seems to be eyeballing the new PlayStation and Xbox as the true start of the new generation, but I have this sinking feeling that most are going to be disappointed. When a single misstep has the potential to sink an entire company, and considering the continued strong sales of the 360 in the States and PS3 everywhere else, third parties might want to stick to the old standbys for a while longer. Orbis and Durango will need to have a significant number of new third-party IPs that are greeted with immediate success, but I highly doubt the industry as a whole is adequately prepared for the big technological shift to pull that off.
But that's a discussion for another time. Right now, the focus is on Nintendo and what the Japanese gaming giant has to do. The Wii U doesn't need more Mario; it needs solid third-party support that will attract the kind of audience Nintendo lost over the past decade. And no, yesterday's Nintendo Direct isn't going to cut it.
I don't know what, but just do something.
January sales show continued rough tides for the Wii U [Gamasutra via NeoGAF]NPD: Black Ops 2, Far Cry 3 Top U.S. Sales Charts for January [IGN via NeoGAF]

Nintendo is in deep doo-dooIt's no secret that the Wii U is in poor shape. No one is denying that Nintendo has failed to push the Wii U message adequately to either the enthusiast gamer or the mass market. And when Ubisoft moved back Rayman Legends to ...

The NPD group says that Nintendo moved more than 1.75 million hardware units in November. The power of Black Friday pushed 910,000 portable systems and 845,000 home consoles into shopping bags last month.
The breakdown ...

Microsoft is currently preening its feathers over another US victory, boasting an NPD victory over both the PS3 and newly released Wii U this November. Although figures overall are down, Microsoft's Xbox division is still doi...

Anyone who follows NPD data knows that Nintendo isn't exactly big on giving up sales numbers (nor are the NPD actually, anymore). Thankfully, IGN was able to unearth a number of Nintendo's hardware and software sales for the ...

The games industry has looked to NPD game sales data for their reports and analysis, but we could never put too much stock into the numbers as they did not include the data from the world's largest retailer, Walmart. That cha...

As usual, this past November saw the launches of some of the most popular and critically acclaimed games in recent memory. Nothing was going to top Call of Duty, of course; in fact, that mammoth franchise showed continued gro...

Ha! That number sounds soooo made up. But it's real. Strong Black Friday sales helped push the Wii install base in the U.S. to 37.7 million units. I thought everyone already had a Wii, but so many more were sold this holiday ...

Price point isn't everything; the latest data from the NPD group shows this. For September 2011, sales of Xbox 360 grew, despite being on average $35 more expensive than PS3.
In the later years of both consoles' lifespa...

According to NPD figures, Just Dance 2 has now sold more copies in nine months than any other third party game on the Wii ever released. These games sell like hotcakes, especially in Europe where seemingly everyone among the ...